Joel Klein’s Aussie disciple teams up with Arne Duncan

We just received an e-mail from Trevor Cobbold, the Australian who has been keeping close tabs on Australia’s deputy education minister, Julia Gillard, as she tries to bring Joel Klein-style initiatives to the land down under. The head of the group Save our Schools, Cobbold is no fan of Gillard, especially her push for school report cards like New York City’s. He reports:

You may be interested to know that Australia’s Federal Minister for Education has signed a memorandum of understanding with Arne Duncan to foster policy collaboration between Oz and the US on education reform. It also appears that Gillard is now taking advice from Michelle Rhee as well as Joel Klein. Heaven help Oz.

News accounts of Gillard’s newest stateside edu-relationships can be found here, here, and here.